Scent of Magic by Maria V Snyder

Scent of Magic by Maria V Snyder
Healer #2
Release Date: December 18, 2012 (UK)
Publisher: Mira Books
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads Stars: 4
Rating: Enjoyable

As the last Healer in the Fifteen Realms, Avery of Kazan is in a unique position: in the minds of her friends and foes alike, she no longer exists. Despite her need to prevent the megalomanical King Tohon from winning control of the Realms, Avery is also determined to find her sister and repair their estrangement. And she must do it alone, as Kerrick, her partner and sole confident, returns to Alga to summon his country into battle.

Though she should be in hiding, Avery will do whatever she can to support Tohon’s opponents. Including infiltrating a holy army, evading magic sniffers, teaching forest skills to soldiers and figuring out how to stop Tohon’s most horrible creations yet; an army of the walking dead—human and animal alike and nearly impossible to defeat.

War is coming and Avery is alone. Unless she figures out how to do the impossible ... again. - Goodreads

Anyone who's been reading my reviews and tweets for a significant amount of time will know that I am a huge fan of Maria V Snyder's books. I've read all of them apart from the Glass trilogy and have really liked to loved them. Scent of Magic is no exception.

That said, I did find the beginning of this novel quite boring. The first two thirds were dull, and nothing really happened to make me excited to continue reading. It was my love of the author's other works that kept me going. In the first part of the book the characters just went around doing one thing and then onto the next, with no real action or any heart racing moments.

Scent of Magic is a little different from Touch of Power, in that it is told from both Avry's and Kerrick's points of view. I found Kerrick's parts to be a lot more interesting than Avry's, probably because there was more happening and more to be discovered in his adventure. Despite really not liking the guy for hitting Avry in Touch of Power, I really enjoyed getting inside his head. His scenes were more interesting than Avry's by far. That doesn't mean I like Kerrick, though. I'm one to hold a grudge on someone for hitting a woman.

The pacing and excitement picked up when Tohon reappears. His wit and his overall insanity was hilarious. I love him a lot, and he's definitely my favourite character out of all of them. I like psychos in fiction, okay?

My favourite scene was definitely the big one towards the end with Avry, Tohon and other characters. Without giving spoilers, I will tell you that I found it funny and exciting and quite thrilling. I can only wish the whole book had been this good!

Despite not liking the majority of this novel, I'll definitely be continuing with this series. I love Maria's writing style too much not to!